A Rangpur court had previously sentenced Masud Rana, Isahaq, Liton Mia and Sakhawat to death over the murder of Japanese national Kunio Hoshi last year.

Militants hacked Rahmat Ali, 60, the caretaker of the shrine at Choitar intersection in Kawnia Upazila’s Modhupur, and slit his throat on his way home on Nov 10, 2015.

Police filed charges against 15 people in the case. The court indicted the suspects on Aug 16 last year.

Suspects and JMB members Nazrul Islam aka Bike Nazrul aka Bike Hassan, 26, and Saddam Hossain aka Rahul, 21, were killed in a shootout on Jan 5, 2016 in the Beribadh area of Dhaka’s Mohammadpur.

State lawyer Rathish Chandra Bhowmik said the victim, Rahmat Ali, was a Sufi devotee. He was the caretaker of the shrine of his father Abdus Sattar, near his home. He was also involved with the shrine of another Pir named Iman Ali Sureswari in Keraniganj.

“He always organised an event at the shrine on Nov 21 each year to commemorate his father’s death,” Bhowmik said. “The militants threatened him to stop the ritual, but he continued with preparations regardless. He was hacked to death 11 days prior to the event.”